Hello People! It's me again, and I brought chapter 19 with me! I hope you guys like this chapter. Anyways... Here it is!

General POV

The next day everyone got up and ready for school. Nathan and Lucas left early to get to Monday morning basketball practice and Peyton, Mercedes and Brooke all went to school together. Before the first bell of the day rang Lucas had met up with the girls at Brookes locker. They were all talking and laughing when Tim walked up to them.

"Hey Mercedes." He said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, hey Tim." Mercedes said turning around to find him standing behind her.

Everyone stopped talking and looked over at Tim.

"Can I talk to you?" He said shyly.

"Umm... sure."

"Walk you to class?"

"Yeah, let's go. I'll see you guys later." She said turning to look at the rest of the gang.

"See ya at lunch." Brooke yelled as she walked down the hall.

"Ok, see ya!" She yelled back.

"So... when you left last Monday I thought you were leaving because you didn't want to go on that date with me."

"Oh, Tim that's not what it was it's just..."

"I know Lucas explained everything to me. But now that your back... I was hoping you would go to dinner with me tonight."

"Tim... I..." She looked at him and saw so much hope in his eyes. "Sure... tonight."

"Really?" He said surprised at the outcome

"Really"

"You promise not to cancel?"

"I promise."

"Great! I'll see you at basketball practice then."

"Ok."

He turned on his heel and left with the biggest smile on his face. Mercedes felt so bad. She knew she had to tell him she had feeling for someone else. The next few periods were spent in anticipation for Mercedes. She looked up at the clock every 5 minutes. In 10 minutes it would be time for lunch and she would see Nathan for the first time that day. She had missed him so much the night before. She missed his arms wrapped around her when she woke up. Everything. On the other side of school Nathan was thinking the same thing. He had the hardest time falling asleep the night before. He lay in bed just thinking about the last kiss they had shared. Nathan felt something in that kiss that he hadn't felt before. Something he loved.

"Come on damn it, just 10 more minutes." He thought.

Finally the suspense was over and the bell rang signaling the beginning of lunch. Mercedes grabbed her stuff and walked out to meet Brooke. Nathan was about to leave when the teacher called out to him.

"Nathan could you please stay after class?"

Nathan reluctantly put his things back down on his desk and sat down. The time passed slowly for him as he waited for everyone to leave so he could quickly talk to the teacher. After everyone was gone the teacher sat on the desk in front of him.

"Can we make this fast Mr. Murphy? I have something to do before lunch is over."

"Yes Nathan. I just wanted to talk to you about you not turning in your geometry homework. I don't want to fail you Nathan, but I will if you don't do the work. If you don't understand it I'm here at lunch or after school, and if that doesn't work for you, you can always arrange something with a tutor to fit your schedule."

"No thanks. That got me in trouble last time."

"What?" Mr. Murphy asked confused

"Nothing. Can I go now?"

"Yes, go."

Nathan quickly gathered his things and left. Meanwhile Mercedes was walking down the hall with the guys when she stopped.

"You guys go ahead. I have to go get some stuff from the library and then I have to talk to Whitey."

"Ok, I'll see you at practice." Brooke said as she turned to watch her walking in the opposite direction.

Mercedes walked through the boys locker room and reached Whitey's office. She knocked on the door.

"Come in." Whitey yelled out.

She opened the door and walked in.

"Hey Coach." She said timidly.

"Ms. Davis, please come in. Sit down."

She walked to the chair and sat down.

"Did you get my message?" She asked

"I did. Don't worry about it. You didn't have time to inform me that you were leaving. I understand. We missed you at practice this morning."

"We had practice this morning?"

"Didn't Lucas tell you?"

"Oh... right...umm... yeah I guess my mind is still a little cloudy."

Lucas hadn't told Mercedes about morning practice but she didn't want to get him in trouble.

"He didn't tell you, did he?"

"Yeah he did... I guess I just forgot. I'm sorry."

"Alright. But we do have Monday and Friday morning practices."

"Then I'll be here Friday morning."

"Good."

"Thanks for being so understanding Coach."

"Go on, get out of here."

Mercedes got up and walked to the door.

"See ya at practice." She said as she happily skipped out of the room

Whitey just chuckled to himself as he watched the young girl walk out of the room. Mercedes headed to the library to get the things she needed. Meanwhile Brooke, and Peyton were both sitting at a lunch table outside the cafeteria. Nathan walked over to them and sat next to Brooke.

"Hey Nathan. Where have you been?" Brooke asked curiously

"Talking to a teacher."

"Oh."

"Where's Mercedes?"

"I don't know. She said she was going to the library but... I'm not sure."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So... I heard you guys kissed last night." She said looking down at her apple.

Peyton looked at Brooke for a second and then over at Nathan interested in the response he would give them.

"She told you about that?"

"She tells me everything." She said looking up at him. "So what happened?"

"I thought she told you everything. Shouldn't you know what happened."

"She told me how it happened but, I wanna know what happened."

"I don't get it." He said confused.

Peyton was listening to everything and she two was confused by Brookes question.

"How did you feel about it I mean."

"I don't know... Why? Did she say something to you?" Nathan said questionably.

"She told us how she felt about it."

"And how is that?"

"She said that she can't stop thinking about you and when you touch her you send shivers up her spine."

All of a sudden a rush of excitement rushed through Nathan's body. That was exactly how he felt about her. Brooke and Peyton could both tell he was excited and wanted him to say he was.

"That's... wow... I just... I don't know what to say."

"Just... tell us how you feel Nathan." Peyton said as she lightly rested her hand on top of his.

"I love her."

Brooke and Peyton both sat there in shock. They were both expecting some kind of cocky remark from him but they would have never thought he would say that.

"You... you love her!" Peyton asked in disbelief.

"I do. I really think I love her."

"Wow... Nathan that's great!" Brooke said hugging him tightly.

He gladly hugged her back. It was finally time to admit to himself his true feelings toward Mercedes and was glad he could share it with Brooke and Peyton. He pulled away from him and looked at both of them.

"Please don't tell her. I'll do it when I'm ready... it's just... she wanted to take things slow and me coming out and telling her I love her might not be what she was expecting."

"Of course. We won't say anything." Brooke said happily.

"Thanks. So... do you know where I can find her?"

"The bell is going to ring soon so... she might be at her locker."

"Thanks. I'll see you guys later." He said getting up and running towards the building in which her locker was located.

"I cannot believe that just happened." Brooke said still amazed at what had come out of Nathan's mouth.

"I know. I just can't believe he let her in so quickly."

"I know! But I'm so glad he did. Nathan deserves to be with someone and I think Mercedes is the best person for him."

"So do I. I think they really fit well together."

"She's gonna be so happy when he tells her. I can feel it."

She smiled happily at Peyton and took a bite of her apple.

There he said it. I hope you don't think I'm rushing this too fast, but I think the really need to hook up soon. So... yeah, let me know what you think about this chapter. I have the next 3 chapters ready and waiting. I'll post them up as soon as I get some more reviews. Just encouraging ya! Thanks to Newyorkchicka for your last review! You're my review angel! (HeHeHe!) Nah, really thanks so much!